Summer vacation has officially started for two of my children and my 3rd grader will be out of school on Tuesday. We don’t have much planned yet for the summer, but I made a little list of things we are looking forward to doing. Or not doing!

1. Art Work
We have a stockpile of art projects for the girls that we are going to work on, like a paint-your-own tea set. I am always overly ambitious the first week of summer break, so it is not surprising that I have considered doing a papier mache project with my kids and their friends. I am going to read up on the process on this site before we start. I’ll let you know how it turns out!

2. Clean Up, Clear Out and Straighten Up!
I am looking forward to some time to clean out the play room and girls’ bedrooms, and they are now old enough to help. I am starting a new game: Pick Up What You Want to Keep! What they are not willing to put away goes in a trash sack for Goodwill. Guerrilla Mommy Tactics: harsh, but effective.

3. Cooking Experiments
I bought this great book at a garage sale: Science Experiments You Can Eat and I am looking forward to working in the lah-borrrrr-ah-tory, uh, kitchen, with the children.

4. Exercise
It is brutally hot here in the summers, so we have joined our local recreation center so we can exercise as a family even on the doggiest days of summer.

5. Friendship Bread
Our sweet neighbor, Monica, brought over an Amish Friendship Bread starter last night. The girls have agreed to smush it every day until we can bake it in ten days. If you are not familiar with this yummy goodness, it is a sourdough “starter” for a sweet bread. The starter grows for ten days and then you split it and make bread with some of it and give the rest away to friends. Every ten days you get two loaves of bread and more starter to share. Good thing we are upping our fitness routine!

6. Nothing
My favorite part of summer is knowing I do not have to get three pokey children somewhere everyday. I am a big believer in scheduled boredom for children. Boredom is a useful tool inteaching children to entertain themselves and to learn how to be alone. The time I have spent alone in my life is a rich source of my creativity. Admittedly, it is brutal to be in the same house with bored children, but I strongly believe in the practice and think of it as a gift to my children that they will appreciate later. I hope.

7. Water Park
We have three fountain parks within a 30 minute drive from where we live and I have made dates with several other families to meet there during the summer. Check out this one, the fountain is named after one of my favorite Texas dames, the smart and sassy Liz Carpenter.